Tragedy in the Law Enforcement Community

Just a little over two weeks ago, tragedy struck SoCal once again with four deaths by
suicide by four sheriffs. All within a span of a short twenty-four hours, the deaths took place one right after another. Sheriff Robert Luna said it sent “shockwaves throughout the department.” Savannah Torsney, wife of law enforcement in office said, “But a lot of what he deals with is very traumatic, and um very stressful. Any call on any day, like it could be a random Monday, and it could be a murder that he walks into, and something that he sees that most people will go their entire lives without seeing.” The mental health epidemic is at an all-time high, and events like this should be eye-opening for everyone in law enforcement. But, even people directly related to
tragedy struggle too. Grief can take a huge toll on loved ones, and it’s a very serious matter. Suicide is a really heavy thing, and we as a community must help one another through the storms that we all experience. Heather Santana, a relative of law enforcement, said, “Mental health has uh, still does, has a really big stigma on it. People that have never struggled with it do not understand it. You can get anything from ‘just cheer up’ or ‘think positive,’ or ‘exercise’! Um One thing I will say is don’t ever think that you know what a person goes through just of how they act or look on the outside. It is a very, very real thing, that it is not just all in your mind or all in your head.” For Canyons News, I’m Micaiah Ashor.